The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 29, 1904, Page 14

By Madge Moore. ark of anv k ecting of fans is more ng tha they bear nc silver or china, signature or ce and jew- in the at the is en ng as the weapon of dates back to remote e sever as found teenth century the handle of there the tiny y where the and the omplete shadow of a the pretty toy probability ious daughter tastened tian grotto there s a pit fanning a water vase ool its ‘ as surrounded with fan bearers, whose chief duty in life was await his pleasure. This custom of fanning royalty and others in high position is as much in as it ever was, though jority of people are not For instance, in the four to six ept constantly in motion r cool and to displace the so plentiful in all vogue to-da perhaps the n aware of the fact Orie fans standi feet high are to keep the al insects which are tropical countries. In religious ceremonies the fan has always played its part. As far back &8 one can penetrate traces of it may be discovered and the same custom has followed down through the ages until it is used at certain great functions at the present day. Perhaps the first rec- ords that seems at all near to the people of this day are the ones of very early English history, which plainly tell that fans were used in all churches keep the flies off the sacred ele- nts ‘o particular kind or shape s chosen, although they were not y round with small bells at- d which tinkled as the fan was to and fro. ved slowly In the gorgeous pageant attending the late Pope when he was carried through St. Peter's to Rome, 'two magr ent white ostrich plumes were carried, one preceding, the other fol- low in the olden times they exclusively for the purpose troublesome insects away, are carried merely to splendor and high po- ist priests, when exhorting > follow in their foot- hold a fan before the face so that nothing may distract their attention or change the trend of their thoughts. This fan, by the way, is one of the most curious, for it is made straight on one side and has a handle some three feet in length. It is held in an easy position and the voice is thrown toward the part that appears to have been cut off, and in this way the congregation is enabled to hear more or less distinctly what he has to say to them. In fact, there is not a temple in the Orient where fans are not to be found. Some are for ordi- nary, practical uses, while others have been consecrated and are considered very holy. The Siamese have a trick that worth while. The priests are sup ported by the people in a curious way. Each father carries a sort of a basket strapped to his side and contributions of all sorts and descriptions are placed in it. When he sees any one coming in his direction he turns his head to one side and holds up a fan so that he may not see what his gift is to be, for gazing straight af the donor would be anything but modest, you know. Right here at home we find that some of our North American Indians use a feather fan in their religious dances and so holy and sacred are they considered that it is almost im- possible to obtain even a poor speci- men. The white man is looked upon in the light of a heathen and each and every member of the tribe is bound by an unspoken oath to keep their sacred relics from the hand of the ruthless vandal. is | FABLE HE Jones family was troubled with two sons; one of them was labeled Henry Clay and the other was plain Willlam, usually merked down to Bill. Now, nature had clearly designed Henry for great thi He had the overhanging brow and automatic cerebral action that give promise of something new and unique in the way of inteliectual stunts. While Henry had his eye on the Pres- idency as a comfortable berth in which to pass his declining years, wearing on is jutting brows a large laurel wrcath woven by his grateful country- men, Willlam aspired to no lower a sta- tion “".an that of the best baseball P er in the United States. Later on he modified his views somewhat and concluded that he woul” be satisfied if he could be the engineer of the fast mail and run up a new record for cows intercepted on a single trip. It is also wnnecessary to state that Henry was one of the most regular at- tendants at Sunday school, while Wil- liam's pationage was usu: lly limited to the month ‘~tely previous to the happy Christmastidc. At other times he appeared only by ~ jrest and FOR THE FOOLISH ON STATESME not then if he could manage to connect with a previous engagement. While Henry could get up before the whole school and announce without turning a hair that his name was Norval on the Grampian Hills—although they all knew that it was Jones when he was in Minktown—and could even do the giant swing dn the speech of Sparta- cus, William couid never get the dying soldier of the legion more than half dead before his voice sneaked out the back door and left him standing on the platform with his mouth open and his mind in the same condition. The only advantage that he ever secured from thes- Friday afternoon bursts of elo- quence was in the fact that he had steady employment for the next week doing various and sundry acts of vio- lence to the boys who enickered when his voice deserted him in the midst of the action. Of course, it was universally admit- ted that Henry Clay wae the hope of his family and that William was some- thing else. some of the more daring ones that Hen- ry might some day butt into Congress if he was real good and read the Bible and the Encyclopedia Britannica reg- ularly. People who live in the back- It was even prophesied by " In far away India the fan has al- way been, and is at the present time for that matter, regarded as an at- tribute of royalty and of civil as well as religious ceremony, while in China they are found about the royal throne and are used to desginate degree and as insigna of office. In the romantic field the fan has al- ways been quite as fatal as Cupid's darts. The beautiful, black-eyed senorita could talk with her fan while her not overly watchful companion was taking her siesta. Probably if the por- traits of the grand and stately dames of French royalty could but speak, they would tell of many an animated fiirtation, innocent enough at the time, but too frequently ending otherwise. To be sure the pretty toy had not then the great popularity that it had in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- turies, for then fts use was frankly re- duced to a science. To become pro- ficlent and thoroughly familiar with it required a course of tralning, -which three included movements of hand bractice. This was done so that the women of fashion might be able to cleverly and deftly express a great variety of emotions. For instance, anggr, modesty, timidity, merriment and’ a host of pretty but extremely dangerous flutters. In the land of the peach blossoms fans are exchanged as love tokens, and as China and Japan are really its home proper, it is more than likely that such was its original purpose. These coun- tries claim the proud distinction as well to be the first to do any pictorial painting. China, in fact, has done the finest work in existence in fllagree gold and silver. So fine that some rare specimens which look like cobwebs are regarded as marvelous works of art and as such are exhibited in the Metro- politan Museum’ in New York. For exquisite work in fan making turn to France, for there it was that the art was carried to the extreme limit and the finest specimens of West- ern Kurope produced. Gold, silver, laces, ivory, pearls, feathers, jewels—in fact everything which art could de- vise were used in fashioning these costly trinkets, and you may be cer- tain that some of them cost a small fortune. The finest artists of the day indulged in this lovely fad, so that some of the fragile, old heirlooms are G R the work of such painters as Boucher, Watteau, Lebrun, Mignard and Le- moine. Besides these, many of the la- dies of thc higher class took up the work for the money that was in it, for the demand was far greater than the supply. % The fan was Introduced into Italy, Spain and Sweden about the same time that it became so popular in France, and a little later it made its first ap- pearance in England. During the reign of Henry VIII two “®tyles were in vogue. One was for full-dress occasions, the other for out- door use, and they were used by men and women alike to protect them from the hot rays of the summer’s sun. It is said that during the reign of James 1 gentlemen corrected their children with a large fan, so it Is very evident that they must have been used com- monly and in the majority of house- holds. During the time of Charles II fan making was carried on extensively, and was a very lucrative business, but soon some enterprising individual began im- porting them from India, which re- sulted in a petition being presented to the Government agalnst importation. The petition, however, was not wholly successful, for fan importing was not stopped, although a duty was imposed which succeeded in protecting home in- dustry and in satisfying the manufac- turers, About the time of Louis XIV a car- riage painter named Robert Martin in- vented a pure white varnish that was of great value in giving a fine finish woods have very queer ideas of Con- gress sometimes. As for William, it was universally admitted that his intel- lect would never keep him awake nights, and it was the general opinion that he would be very fortunate if he could find a place whcre he could work for his board and clothes. ‘When they were sent to college it was the same way, only more so. While Henry was foregathering with the mid- night oil and putting a mansard roof and a two-story piazza on his intellect, Willlam was usually waging fierce and unremitting warfare on strong drink or collecting choice specimens of ivory in the room of the wicked sophomore from gay Noo Yawk. Henry graduated with high honor and a black cutaway, while ‘Willilam just managed to get by before the switch was opened, but he had the finest collections of signs that had ever been seen In the institition. Henry Clay still had his eye on the Presidency as his ultimate goal, but he decided to begin t. collecting bills and starting fires for a disciple of Blackstone, meanwhile absorbing a lt- tle o. the perfection of rzason on the side. It was a humble beginning, but he reasoned that even Abraham Lin- coln started at the bottom, and besides Lincoin had never gone to college. So he girded up his intellect and set out on the road to the White House. When it was put up to William to go out and secure his daily portion of the world’s visible supply of bread, he didn't hesi- tate more than sixteen or seventeen minutes in deciding that Minktown was too leisurely a place for him. e want- ed a place where men were doing things —and being done. No two by four.hole in the wall for Willlam. He needed room to expand, and Chicago seemed to be hungering for just such an in- dividual as he was. Therefore he hied himself away to that city of high build- ings—with rent and wind in proportion —and opened negotiations with a gro- cery for an opportunity to become possessed of his daily loaf, with the prospect of adding a little cake and preserves in the course of time. ‘While William was thus paving the way to becoming a merchant prince, with all the emoluments and dividends thereunto appertaining, Henry Clay was sitting in the lee of a large copy of Kent's Commentaries and informing himself as to the way in which justice might be made lame as well as blind. In the course of time he was admitted to the charmed circle that is allowed to sit within the sanctuary of the law and put its feet on the stove. The future looked as rosy as a Government con- tract. He was making as much as twelve hundred dollars a year—when he could collect it, and his name was a power in all the Justice of the Peace courts In the county. He was also cul- tivating the constituency with a view to the time when the incum- bent of the seat in Congress should conclude that he had rested long enough. In the meantime he conde- scended to accept a seat in the State Legislature—after he had spent all his prospective income for the next two years in inducing the membérs of the nominating convention that he was the gentleman to safeguard their interests and give the gaff to the sinful corpora- tions, at so much per gaff. It was easy sailing from this time on; the prophecies of his early youth were fulfilled in a manner that was calculated to make the people believe that the prophet business was looking up. The doors of Congress opened wide to him and he was to be seen on the floor of the House pleading in impas- sioned tones for an appropriation of four hundred and seventy-five dollars for the dredging of Skunk Creek and a new postoffice for the city of Mink- town. These statements leave no room for doubt that he had at last become a full-fledged statesman. To be sure, the Presidency was still beyond him, but what Congressman would desire to be President in these degenerate days, when the fierce light of Senate commit- tees and postoffic investigations beats hard upon the thrown. Besides, while he still realized that every boy has a chance to be President he had ceased to have so much faith in chance. In the midst of these stirring events in the carecr of Henry Clay, what of William? When we last had the pleas- ure of observing that careless youth he was occupying the proud position of second assistant understudy to the leading man in a corner grocery. By the exercise of frugality and a. keen eye to business he had gathered to himself a half share in the business; on the strength of that he was able to buy out the other man and add a shoe store annex. Things seémed to be coming his way and in the course of time the seed that he had sown sprang up into a flourishing department store with a restaurant on the top floor and Fans From Mrs. W. 8. | Peters of Fast Oakland. and fans | that was much used on painted of wood, ivory and bonme. The few that are yet in existence are known tin for he guarded that it died with as the “Vernis M his secret so je him and was lost to the world of art. While the European people were so busily engaged in ng such beau- tiful specimens, there were other fan makers tu just as useful if not as beaut ones. The South Sea Islander was intent upon weaving as she sat in the shade of her straw hut or the friendly shadows of a glant palm, with nothing to work with but leaves and grasses that grew so luxu- riantly about her. She knew n ¥4 of silks and laces, fine paintings and jewels, yet she was happy In her own dreamy south—a child of nature. How much romance she might have connect- ed with her fan is difficult to ascertain, yet in all probab v this dusky maiden of the South Seas wielded her fan with as much grace as did the colonial dames In their stately minuet. One thing Is to be deeply regretted, and that is the fact that fan making in the islands will be a thing of the past before many years have elapsed. The islands are rapidly passing into the hands of the great mations of the world and the natives are adopting the ways of the white people and are rap- 1dly losing interest in their native arta. Aniline dyes have already been intro- duced and are being used by some, es- pecially the Samoans, in place of their own native dyes. In faet, to such a surprising degres have they accepted the foreigners and their labor-saving devices that some of the handsomest Honolulu specimens are finished with machine stitching, which, of course, cheapens and ruins them for the major- ity of fan lovers. To such an extent has the fad of eel- lecting been taken up that it is one of the most difficult things ta the world to get hold of an old hefricom. When titled people llke ex-Queen Isabells of Spain and familles with wealth as great as the Rothachilds enter the fleld of competition It only makes the strug- gle harder and each prise more pre- clous. Yet fans there are and evidently many of them, for it is & well-known fact that the Duchess of York recelved seven hundred beautiful enes as wed- ding gifts, which makes a rather neat collection In itself. But we boast of & fine collection a great deal nearer home. Here, there and everywheres in the home of Mrs. N. 5. Peters of East Oakland are the fans of the nations, and what {s more to the point, each and every one is the very best that love or money could buy. N AND OTHERS a soda-water fountain In the basement. It was not much, but it helped a little and while Henry was spreading the light and heat of his eloquence over the country Willlam was counting up his profits for the year and carefully prying off the mortgage which rested on his aged parents’ dwelling. Inci- dentally he was paying Henry Clay's debts and selling him goods at whole- sale rates. Here we must leave the brothers, We realize that the tale is incomplete, but tales will grow and he vho has a mind to can add a few joints to this one. Perhaps the fact that William is com- pelled to rub along on a few hundred thousand dollars a year while his brother flourishes like a green bay tree on the princely income of three thou- sand and found may lead In some minds to the conciusion that while a miblic office may be a public trust, a private trust i{s more to the point if a man's tastes run to automobiles and private ,cars. However, the further fact that statesmen are born and not made should relieve Henry of all re- sponsibility. Copyright, 1904, by Albert Britt,